Enrich and Transform
Welcoming LGBTQ Candidates into the Call Process
Do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your minds,
so that you may discern what is
the will of God—what is good
and acceptable and perfect.
—Romans 12:2
“Whenever we embrace those on the margins
of church or society, we open ourselves to
transformation. We must always see transformation
as our ultimate goal, not assimilation. Differences
must not be merely tolerated but celebrated as
change agents that first challenge us but then both
enrich and transform us.”
—Proclaim Member
A guide for call committees considering the diverse gifts of candidates,
including those who are LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer).
1
Purpose of this Resource
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has
welcomed you, for the glory of God. —Romans 15:7
This guide is offered by Extraordinary Lutheran
Ministries (ELM) in response to congregations
and synods who have asked for resources to
help open their doors more widely to the
gifts of LGBTQ leaders in our church. ELCA
Churchwide and Synod offices provide guidance
on the call process in general and this guide
is not a duplication of their important work.
Our guide is an additional resource for call
committees during the process of discernment
and exploration with candidates.
We hope this resource will provide call
committees with some tips, questions, and
inspiration as you explore openness to the full
diversit y of gifted and called leaders in our
church, including LGBTQ persons.
Let the Holy Spirit guide and lead you through
the entire process.
—John Hedlund, Call Committee Member
Light of the World Lutheran Church, Farmington, MN
Contents
Purpose of this resource
2
Introduction3
Experiencing a diversity of leaders
4
Beginning your work
4
Beginning your Ministry Site Profile
5
Why consider calling an LGBTQ pastor
6
Working with the congregation
8
Considering a First Call candidate
9
Getting the word out
9
Interviewing candidates
10
Discerning12
Recommending a candidate to the congregation 13
Welcoming a new LGBTQ pastor
14
Conclusion14
Contact Information and Photo Credits
14
Glossary of terms
15
Extraordinary Lutheran
Ministries
Freed and compelled by the Gospel of Jesus
Christ to proclaim God’s love and seek justice
for all, Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
envisions a church where all may serve God
according to their callings.
Rev. Jenny Mason
Light of the World Lutheran Church, Farmington, MN
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries affirms and
supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
queer (LGBTQ) rostered leaders and those
pursuing a call to rostered leadership, while
engaging allied congregations and ministries to
proclaim God’s love and justice for all people.
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries does this
work through three main programs: Candidacy
Accompaniment, Ministry Engagement,
and Proclaim—a professional communit y for
LGBTQ rostered leaders and seminarians.
Learn more at www.elm.org.
2
Introduction
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away; see, everything has
become new!
—1 Corinthians 5:17
Great challenges are taking place in the lives
of many congregations. These challenges can
be exciting and energizing. One way to capture
the excitement of the future of congregational
ministry would be to talk to a gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ)
seminarian, pastor, or rostered leader in our
church. LGBTQ identified people in committed
relationships were welcomed onto the ELCA
roster in 2009. This marks a new day for our
whole church. The Spirit is indeed moving! And
we believe LGBTQ leaders have unique gifts to
offer our church in this new day.
With the shift in church policies new doors
are opening. These open doors permit the
entrance of gifts that have not always been fully
recognized by the church and invite people of
all kinds who have perhaps never felt welcomed
in the church before. LGBTQ seminarians,
candidates, and rostered leaders are eager
to engage this New Day in partnership with
congregations and ministries.
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries has made
a brief 6 minute video overview of our work.
This video, ELM Today, gives you a sense of the
current state of LGBTQ leaders in our church
- both the gifts they have to offer and the need
for communities to welcome and embrace those
gifts. The video is on the front page of our
website (www.elm.org).
It was exciting that God provided and called
a wonderfully gifted, strong Lutheran pastor
to minister to our children, youth and young
adults. Just 5 years ago, this call wouldn’t have
been possible. We all (congregations as well as
Pastor Laura) would have lost out on so much.
Now, as the mother of daughters, I’m excited
that they have Pastor Laura as an example and
a spiritual leader.
—Lynn Kriser, Call Committee member,
St. Stephen Evangelical Lutheran Church, Michigan
Rev. Laura Kuntz Calvary Lutheran Church,
St. Stephen Lutheran Church, Lansing, MI
This is the most positive group of colleagues
that I gather with. Everywhere else in the
church, people are wringing their hands and
pulling their hair out and talking about the fear
and the anxiety and here we’re talking about
dreams, and we’re talking about the future
and we’re talking about hope. And so I love
getting together with the folks here at Proclaim
because they have a vision for what the church
is becoming, and I’m just not hearing that and
finding that in other areas of the church right
now.
— Rev. Mark Erson,
St John’s Lutheran Church, New York City, NY
3
Experiencing a Diversity of
Leaders
The need for a supply pastor or preacher is
often part of the early stages of the call process.
This is a perfect chance to get to know some
diverse pastors with different st yles. ELM
has a list of LGBTQ pastors, candidates, and
seminarians who want to do pulpit supply
(www.elm.org/proclaim-pulpit-supply). Also
ask your synod for their list of supply pastors,
paying particular attention to those who are
different from your previous pastor. Now is a
good time to shake things up and see different
leadership and preaching st yles.
I’d love to at some point in time serve in
a rural setting. Mainly for me it’s about
community--knowing and being known.
I think the thing that I learned is to not
immediately dismiss a congregation because
of their size or location. I did some pulpit
supply in a small rural town in Minnesota
and Maja and I were welcomed warmly.
People felt LGBT folk in the church and in
the pulpit wasn’t an issue for them anymore.
They were more concerned that I wasn’t a
Packers fan!
—Cara Knutson, First Call Candidate
Beginning your Work
Thank you for answering YES to this call to
serve on the call committee. Your team is
now entrusted with the process of mutual
discernment to choose the best person to be
your new pastor. Call committees are selected
to be representative of the congregation and
to include diverse voices that may not often be
heard. Throughout the process, you can always
be looking for ways to include others’ voices
and perspectives, even if they don’t sit on the
committee.
It may be easiest to think about a new pastor in
comparison with previous pastors. Work to be
open to diverse people who are quite different
from your previous pastor. Remember that this
is an opportunit y for transformation in your
congregation!
In the midst of this process be open and honest
about your fears and concerns, including if you
are nervous about LGBTQ candidates. Seek
to challenge your own stereot ypes. Engage in
dialogue together. Pray. Don’t let fears guide
your process.
Also, we’d encourage you not to preemptively
rule candidates out. Perhaps you are in a rural
setting or conservative area or you don’t have
any LGBTQ families in your communit y.
If these are concerns of yours, engage in
conversation with a candidate about them, but
don’t automatically rule a candidate out or make
assumptions. There are LGBTQ candidates who
feel called to rural ministry or to serve in more
conservative contexts. The LGBTQ communit y
is a diverse communit y of individuals.
Your call committee may watch videos provided
by your synod about the call process. These
are helpful. We really recommend you also
take the time to watch, Sailing on Faith, a 25
minute video about the experience of a call
committee who opened up to the Holy Spirit as
they called a new leader. The experience ended
up very differently from what they had initially
expected! The video will help your committee
think about diverse candidates in the call
process. This video was made by the United
Church in Christ, a full communion partner of
the ELCA. http://vimeo.com/29332407
You may also want to show this video at an
adult forum so others in the congregation can
join the conversation about considering diverse
candidates.
4
Beginning Your Ministry
Site Profile
The call process brings people closer together and
really makes the congregation take a hard look at
what is important to them and what their mission in
this world is.
—Marybeth Newton, Call Committee Chair St
Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, CA
One of the first steps in the call process is
developing a profile of your congregation or
ministry site. This is a good opportunit y to
introduce the idea of considering LGBTQ
or otherwise diverse candidates for your new
pastor. You may be creating a survey for your
congregation or hosting a conversation as
you develop your site profile. Here are a few
suggested questions your congregation or call
committee may want to consider at this point in
the process:
• What are the ministry needs of the greater
communit y? What are some of the cultures/
people/issues that we want to engage with the
message of the Gospel and the ministries of
our church?
• What do we want to say about ourselves as
we call a pastor – what statement do we want
to make? Do we want to announce to our
community that we are open, and are excited
about ministries of justice and reconciliation?
How can the call we extend become a statement
of the ministry we are attempting to engage?
Spend enough time together to develop trust
around all the issues you and the congregation
want to see in a new pastor. Sexual orientation
is just one aspect and probably not the most
important issue. Try to separate your own
responses from what you think the congregation
response is likely to be. Remember that you
really don’t know what others responses will be
so don’t assume. Talk about it.
—Ruth Rinard, Call Committee Member
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Amherst, MA
• To what sort of mission and ministry is
the Spirit of God calling us? Developing a
spiritualit y of openness and challenge allows
the process itself to become an agent of the
work of the Spirit of God.
• How would our congregation feel about
calling a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
person to serve as our pastor?
After you consider the opportunities for
ministry in your communit y, and you begin
to broaden the range of mission and pastoral
directions, then you can ask:
What sort of person can best work with us
to respond to the call of the Holy Spirit in
our church and in our community?
The process to call a new senior pastor
following the retirement of our former
senior pastor was deliberative. We
spent a good deal of time developing
a congregational profile, which called
forth the needs of the congregation now
and projected its needs into the future.
In presenting the candidate, we mapped
our analysis of the gifts of the candidate
to the defined needs of the congregation.
We were able to demonstrate, through the
written comments of the candidate, the
information that emerged in our interviews
with him, and comments we heard in
extensive reference checking, that the gifts
of the candidate we recommended aligned
nearly perfectly with the defined needs of
the congregation. In our presentation, we
certainly disclosed his sexual orientation
and his role in the historic actions of the
church, but we focused primarily on his
gifts for ministry.
­—Claire Hoyum, Call Committee member Gloria
Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN
5
Why Consider Calling an
LGBTQ Pastor
The church asks candidates to be open to the
call of the whole church. We invite you to also
be open to and celebrate the whole diversit y
of candidates that God has called to serve the
church.
For as in one body we have many members, and
not all the members have the same function, so
we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually we are members one of another. We
have gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in
ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter,
in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader,
in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
—Romans 12:4-8
Why consider calling an LGBTQ pastor?
Here are a variet y of responses from LGBTQ
seminarians, candidates, and rostered leaders:
community that Trinity is an open, thoughtful,
progressive congregation.” Having an openly
LGBTQ pastor accomplishes the same thing!
— Rev. Peggy Yingst
In the first couple of months of ministry
I’ve already encountered people who feel
comfortable sharing parts of their lives and
their family members’ lives with me in a way
that they haven’t been able to with a pastor
before. Because I’m open about my sexuality
they know I am safe to talk to, and when that
happens it is a gift given to both of us.
— Rev. Laura Kuntz
There are some amazing LGBTQ rostered
leaders who, against all odds, desire to answer
God’s call to serve in ministry. So, here are a
few characteristics that I see as being good
reasons to considering calling someone like
myself: faithfulness, creativity, perseverance,
honesty, loyalty, truth-telling, humility, etc. (I
was going to write all the fruits of the Spirit, but
I think you get the idea.)
—Rev. Jenny Mason
Many people think “If they can deal with that
Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Trans minister, they’ll
have no problem with me being _______.”
— Dug Swank
Great evangelism effort, if [churches] will call a
gay/partnered pastor the door opens wide.
— Rev. Terry Hagensen
We see the margins and thin places in life and
know from experience that is where God is
working.
— Alex Raabe
Because kids need to see and know that
everyone is welcome. —Rev. Angela Nelson
It also makes a powerful statement of welcome
to the community. They are not just making a
statement of welcome, they are living it.
­—Rev. Dr. Dawn Roginski
A congregation should consider calling an
LGBTQ candidate because, like any other
candidate, we bring our own set of skills and
abilities to their local congregation. In June,
my congregation hung the pride flag at church
throughout June. I reminded my church council
that the flag “wasn’t just about being inviting to
‘the gays,’ but that it was a sort of ‘code’ to the
Most of us have had to learn something about
a costly love for a broken-yet-holy church. It’s
a good moment in history to have a pastor
who has begun the work of learning to love the
church in this way, and while many non-LGBTQ
pastors may have done this work, almost all
LGBTQ pastors will have had to do it as a core
part of their preparation for ministry.
—Carolina Glauster, First Call Candidate
6
LGBTQ candidates provide a call committee
with candidates who are, more than most
candidates,
--able to understand the faith challenges to
young adults who have mostly abandoned
church traditions that they see as hypocritical,
--able to walk with people through the
wildernesses of their lives, because they have
been in and through those wildernesses,
--able to value and care for each child of God
in a congregation, because they have learned
what it means to be accepted by Jesus,
I began my call as a tall, white, educated,
straight man... since coming out, my eyes
have been opened to injustice in remarkable
ways- and not just my own personal
experiences with it. My heart is just more in
tune with it. I notice it as I walk the streets
and ride the buses, as I interact with people
of all sorts... I think as LGBT folk, we carry
unique stories lived experiences that make us
very in tune to the cries of the marginalized.
--able and excited to preach the Gospel, for the
Good News has, for most, been denied them in
the past.
— Chris Wogaman, First Call Candidate
—Rev. Paul Clark,
Fresno State University Campus Ministry
LGBTQ candidates bring a much needed trajectory for
ministry in today’s world. We’ve been excluded and
included. In the past few decades there aren’t many groups
of people who can say that. I think one of the big barriers
for churches is the ability to speak to the experience of
those who feel unwelcome or left out. Christians have
tended to only include those who align with their narrow
interpretations...so many people view the church as a
closed off place. I think LGBTQ people bring just the right
combination of experiences to allow them to connect those
who have known the church for their whole lives and those
who feel the church has repeatedly rejected or abused them.
We are a group of healers.
—Rev. Caleb Crainer, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, CA
7
Working with the
congregation
If you feel like the whole congregation needs to
be involved in the conversation of opening up
your call process to include LGBTQ candidates,
here are some ideas:
• Have a local LGBTQ pastor come and talk
about their call to ministry.
• If you are not Reconciling in Christ (RIC),
consider entering into that process of public
welcome of LGBTQ people.
http://www.reconcilingworks.org/what/ric
• Have an adult education forum about
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries. Invite
someone from the congregation who is
connected with ELM to speak. Or, contact
ELM to see if we might have someone in your
area who could come and be part of your
discussion.
It helps to have already affirmed and
embraced our RIC status. The congregation
is open and affirming in an area (Vallejo and
Solano County) where LGBTQ people have
few welcomes, and that is an important part
of the congregation’s self-identity.
—Marilyn Matevia, Call Committee member
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Vallejo, CA
• Host a panel discussion. Depending on your
local resources, panel members could include:
a member of another congregation who has
been through a call process with an LGBTQ
pastor, a local LGBTQ pastor or intern,
supportive synod staff member, a person
connected with ELM (be in touch - we might
have someone in your area!), a member of
an internship committee that supported an
LGBTQ intern, etc.
• Watch the ELM Today video - 6 minutes,
available on the ELM website. Or the Sailing
on Faith video mentioned above (25 minutes).
Why consider opening your call process to a
gifted and called LGBTQ leader?
• Include a question or two in your
congregational study/discernment about
considering diverse candidates, and LGBTQ
candidates specifically.
Be open about what you are doing ... but in
an organic way. Discussions need to occur
in smaller groups - or in some less than overt
way. For our congregation in upper middle
class suburbs - we needed to tread lightly.
Waving a rainbow flag would not have been
productive.
—Gary Clark, Call Committee member Abiding
Presence Lutheran Church, Rochester Hills, MI
8
Considering a First Call
Candidate
For I am longing to see you so that I may share with
you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so
that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s
faith, both yours and mine.
—Romans 1:11-12
Has your congregation considered a First Call
candidate?
This might be a good conversation to have
among your call committee members and
perhaps with your synod staff. Being a First
Call congregation has blessings and challenges
and is worth exploring. Here are some reasons
you might consider opening your call process to
First Call candidates:
• candidates often come fresh out of seminary
with lots of ideas, energy, excitement
• there’s room for mutual learning - you are
both teacher and learner
• your communit y can be instrumental in
helping shape a pastor for the rest of their
ministry - this is a gift to whole church
• many first call pastors bring experience from
previous careers
• the synod supports first call candidates
through First Call Theological Education
• you get to be part of an ordination or a
consecration
We as a committee made a conscious decision
to focus on the qualities and qualifications
the candidate needed to be the pastor of our
church. We prayed and thought whether our
congregation was ready to be supportive to
an LGBTQ candidate and a “new” pastor.
We realized that this was an opportunity to
grow and practice what we believe. We were
resolved that some people might leave.
—Call Committee member
Getting the Word Out
If you are open to exploring LGBTQ
candidates, it’s a good idea to explicitly and
proactively let the synod know you are open
to the full diversit y of candidates that God has
called, including LGBTQ candidates.
You are also invited to let Extraordinary
Lutheran Ministries know about your call
opportunit y. Because there are still fewer call
possibilities for LGBTQ candidates and people
might not hear about such openings, letting us
spread the word is another way to expand your
reach for the right fit for ministry. Interested
candidates would contact your synod office
and go through the same channels as other
candidates. Contact information for ELM is at
the end of this guide.
• candidates are aware of current trends in
theology and church planning
• there is curiosit y and excitement to work
together
My only suggestion is that congregations
focus first and only on the needs of the
congregation’s ministry and mission.
Many gifted LGBTQ candidates have been
waiting far too long for their gospel gifts to
be recognized and invited into ministry.
Congregations should not constrain their
access to those gifts by artificially limiting the
pool of candidates they are willing to consider.
—Claire Hoyum, Call Committee member
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN
9
Interviewing Candidates
Depending on your synod, synod staff will
provide candidate profiles for one or more
candidates. The written materials should be
used as an introduction, not as a comprehensive
description of this person’s gifts and fit for your
ministry. Stretch yourself to consider candidates
who are different from your previous pastor. Let
the Holy Spirit surprise you!
Face to face interviews give everyone involved
a chance to see each other as real people. This
means you can cut through superficial issues
to focus on the passions and ministry ideas of
both the candidate and the congregation.
Plan your questions to bring out stories of the
candidate’s experiences of life and background.
When interviewing an LGBTQ candidate,
most questions will be the same as those you
would ask any candidate. If members of the
call committee are nervous or unsure about
interviewing an LGBTQ candidate, ELM
may be able to arrange a practice interview
with a pastor from Proclaim, the professional
communit y for publicly identified LGBTQ
Lutheran rostered leaders, candidates, and
seminarians. Additionally, we, and maybe
the synod, are able to connect you with a
member of a congregation who has served on
a call committee and engaged with LGBTQ
candidates.
Sometimes, if people are unfamiliar with
LGBTQ folks, they can feel awkward, not
wanting to ask the wrong question or use the
wrong words. Below are a few sample questions
and tips. We also have an attached glossary of
terms that may help. But openness, honest y and
a bit of grace will serve you well!
Sample Questions
• How do you see being LGBTQ as a gift to
your ministry and to the wider church?
• Being a pastor is challenging work for
anyone, but the discrimination that LGBTQ
pastors sometimes experience in the church
and societ y could add additional stress to your
work as a pastor. What are some ways you
take care of yourself when life gets stressful?
• How do you define family? If you do not
have the support of your family of origin,
what are some of the other ways you have
created family or participate in communities
of accountabilit y?
• Are there ways in which your coming out
story and your call to ministry are linked?
• How is your identit y as an LGBTQ person
linked with your identit y as a child of God?
• When so much of the church has said ‘no’
to LGBTQ people, why did you choose to
remain part of the church?
• How as a congregation can we support you
as a publicly identified LGBTQ pastor? What
challenges do you anticipate, and in what
ways can we partner with you to meet those
challenges? What joys do you anticipate? How
can we celebrate those with you?
Be prepared for a variet y of responses to your
questions. Perhaps you will hear some things
you didn’t expect. For example, LGBTQ people
come from and create many different kinds
of families that may or may not look like your
own. Or, some LGBTQ people might have
experienced a lot of pain and hurt from the
church, which may be hard to hear if that is not
your experience. Take time to process responses
and try to keep an open mind. Seek to uncover
the whole person, rather than just focusing on
one aspect of their experience or identit y.
When I came out, [the call committee]
asked themselves and invited me to be part
of the conversation, “How might calling an
LGBTQ candidate help us better live out our
commitment to an inclusive welcome?”
—Rev. Steven Wilco,
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Amherst, MA
10
What words to use?
How do I not offend someone?
It is always best to let a candidate choose if and
how they want to self-identify (pronouns, sexual
orientation, gender identit y, family status, etc).
Additionally, candidates should be encouraged
to self-identify in terms of their relationship.
LGBTQ couples may use various terms to
describe their relationship, including partner,
spouse, wife, husband, etc. Ask how the
candidate identifies their relationship and then
use those terms respectfully.
As a general guide, don’t ask questions you
wouldn’t feel comfortable answering yourself.
And be patient with the process and with
yourselves. Trust that the Spirit is working!
The call committee held all its meetings
and interviews with candidates at the home
of one of our members. We lit a candle
at the start of each meeting, a symbol of
our invitation to the Holy Spirit to enter
our conversations and deliberations.
Our committee worked long and hard
and faithfully, guided by the Holy Spirit.
The pastor we recommended and the
congregation called has been a gift to all,
evidence of the Spirit’s work among us.
—Claire Hoyum, Call Committee member, Gloria Dei
Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN
I remember they asked me how I would
handle people in the congregation who might
not be super comfortable with the idea of an
out gay pastor. I felt good about my response
which was that I wasn’t going to argue with
anyone or try to “defend” my call. I told them
I had no interest in “convincing” anyone
that gay people can be pastors...that sort of
posture only leads to more consternation.
Instead, I’d be happy to orchestrate Bible
Studies and Forums around LGBTQ topics so
we can learn and grow together.
— Rev. Caleb Crainer, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church,
Los Angeles, CA
Acknowledge concerns, anxieties, and hopes
up front. If the committee is unsure of the
appropriateness of a question, say so. Treat
the candidate like a pastor. Educate yourself
beforehand if there are sexuality questions you
have (read an issue of Out or The Advocate, check
the Human Rights Campaign website, etc), but try
and keep the conversation on the paperwork of the
candidate.
— Rev. Angela Nelson, Christ Our Emmanuel, Chatham, NY
11
Discerning
Do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that
you may discern what is the will of God—what is
good and acceptable and perfect. —Romans 12:2
Hopefully when you meet the right candidate
the whole committee will be on the same page
and you can easily move to the next step, clear
in the Spirit’s call. But sometimes there may be
division within the committee. If the candidate is
LGBTQ, there may be division about whether that
candidate is the right recommendation, or perhaps
someone on your committee is not open to calling
an LGBTQ person at all. Try to get to the root
of the objection. Is it fear? Lack of knowledge?
Concern for others might react? A sincere belief
that same-sex relationships are wrong? Immerse
yourself in prayer. Seek guidance from the synod
or others who may help you in this challenge.
A common concern is wondering if some people
will leave the congregation if you put an LGBTQ
candidate forward. The reality is that you will
probably lose and gain members in any transition.
Try not to let that overshadow your sense of the
Spirit’s calling. In some congregations where
a group of people is unhappy about calling an
LGBTQ pastor, the call committee or church
leadership has urged those folks to commit to
trying it out for 6 months. When people are
actively engaged in relationship and ministry
together often times hearts will change. But in the
end, it still may happen that someone will leave.
And, it may happen that many will arrive.
Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are
engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
—2 Corinthians 4:1
As head of the call committee, I made a
PowerPoint presentation with an edited video
interview series that I put together with Pastor
Caleb so the congregation could “get to know
him” further prior to a vote.
—Marybeth Newton, Call Committee Chair St Andrew’s
Lutheran Church, Los Angeles
When we presented the candidate, we
received overwhelmingly positive response.
But we also received messages of concern.
Several committed, long-term members were
deeply troubled. The call vote was 91.5%
positive--more supportive than the vote to
call the first woman as senior pastor. We
lost about a dozen members over the call
decision, and the congregation continues to
grieve those losses. But we have also seen
tremendous growth since the call decision.
The candidate’s warmth and outreach to those
who did not support his call have helped
bring some of those who were concerned
into the community of support. Many of our
new members have been attracted to our
congregation because of its commitment
to warm liturgical worship, fine preaching,
excellent music, outreach locally and abroad,
and joyful welcome to all. We are larger and
more energetic than we were before the call
over two years ago.
—Claire Hoyum, Call Committee member,
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN
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Recommending a Candidate to
the Congregation
Once you have made a decision, communicate
the call committee’s enthusiasm about this
candidate to the congregation! Explain why
the chosen candidate is the right one by
focusing on what excited the committee about
this potential ministry partnership. In many
synods the candidate would come to meet
congregation members in person before the
vote. If this is not the practice in your synod
and you think it might be helpful, consider
talking with the synod about this possibilit y.
This provides the congregation with a good
opportunit y to meet and engage with the real
person. Or, if that’s not possible, perhaps
create a video or use Skype. There are lots of
creative options!
When introducing an LGBTQ candidate to
the congregation, talk with the candidate
about how they want to be introduced and
if a spouse or family will be accompanying
them. If there is a time for open questions
with the congregation, perhaps have a member
of the call committee moderate. Make sure
this candidate is able to talk about their gifts
and vision for ministry and that the whole
discussion doesn’t become only about their
sexual orientation and/or gender identit y.
It’s really important to welcome our spouses, if
we have them. For them, it’s a completely new
thing to be an out pastor’s spouse, and it takes
some getting used to. And know that we are
still pinching ourselves for a quite a while that
we get to do this thing called rostered ministry
again. It makes us kind of giddy!
—Rev. Jenny Mason,
Light of the World, Farmington, MN
Right now I’m inviting myself over to peoples’
homes to get to know them better and it
means a lot when they ask if my partner
would like to come along.
—Rev. Laura Kuntz,
Calvary Lutheran Church,
St. Stephen Lutheran Church, both in Lansing, MI
Rev. Bradley Schmeling
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, MN
One of the biggest blessings for me was
that an individual from the congregation
approached me after I began and initiated
conversations that would eventually lead to
our attaining Reconciling In Christ status. I
think congregations who aren’t already RIC,
should remember that joining that community
needs to come from the congregation and
council first instead of being led by the new
gay pastor. I think our RIC status helped me
and the congregation communicate more
effectively about stresses and histories when
thinking through our LGBTQ welcome.
—Rev. Caleb Crainer,
St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, CA
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Welcoming a New
LGBTQ Pastor
Congratulations on your new partnership in
ministry! Your work as a call committee is
almost done.
As you welcome your new pastor, we encourage
you to:
• Talk openly with your new leader about if/
how their family wants to be involved
• Help connect them with ELM and Proclaim if
they are not already
• Help connect them with other LGBTQfriendly pastors and people in the area
• Provide continuing education funds for your
pastor to keep learning and being sustained
in ministry (the annual Proclaim Retreat is an
excellent source of both continuing education
and sustaining for ministry)
• Help them set up a Mutual Ministry
Committee for reflection and support
• Enjoy getting to know one another!
Conclusion
This resource has been prepared by
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries to assist
call committees in considering a candidate
who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/
or queer. It may also be helpful to interim
pastoral leadership, collegial pastoral networks,
transition study groups, congregational profile
committees, and other who may be involved in
these processes. This resource is not definitive
nor comprehensive. However, we do hope
this resource can accompany and inform your
discernment, address some of your possible
concerns, and invite space for the Holy Spirit’s
work among you.
Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous,
be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
—1 Corinthians 16:13-14
Contact Information
For more information, questions, feedback,
or comments, or to let ELM know about a
call opportunit y in your communit y, please
contact:
Amalia Vagts, Executive Director
[email protected]
563-382-6277
Rev. Jen Rude, Program Director
[email protected]
773-235-0610
You can also find additional information
and resources on our website: www.elm.org
Photo Credit: All photos taken by Emily
Ann Garcia, www.emilyanngarcia.com
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Short Glossary of Terms
Accompaniment: Program of Extraordinary
Lutheran Ministries – Grassroots, candidatedriven accompaniment for LGBTQ people in
Lutheran candidacy. Support and advocacy for
LGBTQ persons in the Lutheran candidacy
process through direct work with candidates,
and relationship and resource development for
synods, seminaries, candidacy committees and
other church leaders. www.elm.org/candidacy
Asexual: In its broadest sense, asexual
describes individuals who are not sexually
attracted to others or are not interested in sex.
Those who identify as asexual may still be
romantically attracted to others.
Bisexual: A person emotionally, romantically,
sexually and relationally attracted to more than
one sex and/or gender, though not necessarily
simultaneously, in the same way or to the same
degree. Because bisexual assumes a binary,
male/female paradigm, some individuals now
use the term pansexual.
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries
(ELM): ELM is a self-funded social ministry
organization that affirms and supports
publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered
leaders and those pursuing a call to rostered
leadership while engaging allied congregations
and ministries to proclaim God’s love and
seek justice for all. Extraordinary Lutheran
Ministries does this work through three main
programs: Proclaim, Accompaniment, and
Ministry Engagement. Through this work, ELM
ensures that LGBTQ leaders and the ministries
they lead can proclaim God’s love and seek
justice for all people. www.elm.org
Gay: A word describing a man or a woman
who is emotionally, romantically, sexually and
relationally attracted to members of the same sex.
Gender Identity: One’s innermost concept of
self as male or female or both or neither—how
individuals perceive themselves and what they
call themselves. One’s gender identity can be
the same or different than the sex assigned at
birth. Individuals are conscious of this between
the ages 18 months and 3 years. Most people
develop a gender identity that matches their
biological sex. For some, however, their gender
identity is different from their biological or
assigned sex. Some of these individuals choose
to socially, hormonally and/or surgically change
their sex to more fully match their gender
identity.
Gender Expression: Refers to the ways in which
people externally communicate their gender
identity to others through behavior, clothing,
haircut, voice, and other forms of presentation.
Gender expression also works the other way as
people assign gender to others based on their
appearance, mannerisms, and other gendered
characteristics. Sometimes, transgender people
seek to match their physical expression with their
gender identity, rather than their birth-assigned
sex. Gender expression should not be viewed as
an indication of sexual orientation.
Genderqueer: A word people use to describe
their own non-standard gender identity or
expression.
Gender Role: This is the set of roles, activities,
expectations and behaviors assigned to females
and males by society. Many cultures recognize
two basic gender roles: masculine (having the
qualities attributed to males) and feminine
(having the qualities attributed to females).
People who step out of their socially assigned
gender roles are sometimes referred to as
transgender. Some cultures have three or more
gender roles.
Intersex: People who are born with physical
sex markers (genitals, hormones, gonads or
chromosomes) that are neither clearly male nor
female
Lesbian: A woman who is emotionally,
romantically, sexually and relationally attracted
to other women.
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LGBTQ: Often used as shorthand to refer
to a variet y of people with diverse sexual
orientations and/or gender identit y. The letters
commonly refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and queer.
Ministry Engagement: Program of
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries – Engaging
with congregations and ministries. Seeking
to support and create more calls for LGBTQ
leaders, while celebrating and highlighting
extraordinary congregations and ministries.
Proclaim: Program of Extraordinary Lutheran
Ministries – the professional communit y for
publicly identified LGBTQ Lutheran rostered
leaders, candidates, and seminarians. This
communit y gathers annually in retreat for
learning and renewal, and connects throughout
the year for networking and mutual support.
Proclaim is a witness to the Church.
Queer: Anyone who chooses to identify as
such. This can include, but is not limited to,
gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex,
and asexual people, etc. This term has different
meanings to different people. Some still find it
offensive, while others reclaim it to encompass
the broader sense of history of the gay rights
movement. Can also be used as an umbrella
term like LGBT, as in “the queer communit y.”
identify as straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
Transsexual: Individuals who do not identify
with their birth-assigned genders and physically
alter their bodies surgically and/or hormonally.
This physical transition is a complicated,
multi-step process that may take years and may
include, but is not limited to, sex reassignment
surgery. Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is a
term used by some medical professionals to
refer to a group of surgical options that alter
a person’s “sex”. Not all transgender people
choose to, or can afford to, have SRS. While
this procedure is often referred to as a sex
change operation in popular culture, SRS is
the preferred term.
Additional definitions of terms related to
sexualit y and gender can be found here:
www.hrc.org/resources/entry/glossary-of-terms
www.genderspectrum.org
www.tolerance.org/LGBT-best-practices-terms
www.thegenderbook.com
Sexual orientation: Sexual orientation is an
enduring personal qualit y that inclines people
to feel romantic or sexual attraction (or a
combination of these) to persons of another sex
or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both
sexes or more than one gender.
Transgender. Sometimes used as an umbrella
to describe anyone whose identit y or behavior
falls outside of stereot ypical gender norms.
More narrowly defined, it refers to an individual
whose gender identit y does not match their
assigned birth gender. Being transgender
does not imply any specific sexual orientation
(attraction to people of a specific gender.)
Therefore, transgender people may additionally
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